Republican People's Party (CHP) chairman Deniz Baykal clarified remarks he had made during the 2007 Central Administration Budget session in parliament, after Acting Speaker Ismail Alptekin said the comments had raised tensions and called on Baykal to explain himself.
Baykal insisted his original words had been misread, saying his concern was never with the personal or family lives of political figures but with the qualifications of anyone seeking the presidency.
He argued that a candidate who treats democracy as a tool rather than a core value should be disqualified from the office, noting that democracy, like secularism, is a foundational constitutional principle and cannot be treated as merely a means to an end.
Baykal also said a candidate who publicly recognizes dozens of distinct ethnic groups within Türkiye and dismisses the concept of a unified Turkish national identity would be unfit for the presidency. He added that anyone who holds religious unity as the sole guarantee of national cohesion should likewise be excluded from consideration.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in December 2006, in its own words.